Although I will boldly say that North of America are the second best band from Eastern Canada, I am also prepared to say that they're a pretty typical indie rock band. That is to say, they employ some familiar (arguably shopworn) conventions, but they happen to employ them unusually well. At its best, These Songs Are Cursed combines the deliberate melodicism of Jawbox with the noisy and the careful brackishness characterizing many a vital and ass-kicking "math rock" bands currently bubbling underneath the stagnant indie rock status-quo. North of America,like the aforementioned bands, uses little or no distortion, composes abrasive, technical songs in ordinary time-signatures, and locates catchy undercurrents all over the place. Think: the smart-alecky zinging quirk of Shellac with the artsy ivories of Pavement. Not total, or even partial discord, but a fine, balance of control and loss thereof. The first two songs "Central Port of Equal Times" and "Soft Geometry" are noisy suckers, but will of course, given half a chance, insidiously worm their way into your frontal lobe. But it's the more restrained stuff like "Wall Monument" (a song about, well, a wall monument) and "Rough Draft Korea" (with truly cool use of slide-guitar) where we get both the muscle and the melody of North of America. In the cliche column, we have the vocals. Every song (or seemingly) on These Songs Are Cursed has some degree of the out-of-key. This is indie rock after all, and you're supposed to like the wacky vocals with some kind of tongue-in-cheek irony (nudge,nudge.) Or, maybe it's just annoying. Or, maybe, like a death metal fan, you grow to like the wacky vocals. I will say that, to their credit, they've not pitched face forward completely, as there are plenty of fun, memorable, vocal phrasings, and they're not, all told, atrocious. But there they are. Another indie hallmark I will broach will a question: are North of America clever - or - do North of America just want us to believe they're clever? That might depend on whether or not you find references to Senecans, atolls, and daguerreotypes amusing or pretentious. Although I have yet to see this band live, I have read and been told personally to my own astonishment that the four members write and sing their own songs and typically swap instruments on stage. That fact isn't so much as astonishing (although it is unsual and interesting) as the fact that I'd been listening to this album for months without being privy to four distinct voices. So, apparently they all sing somewhat off key, they all write tricky, alternately melodic and discordant structures, and they all write lyrics like "mimetic times that signify the signs/obstruct the structure that occupies our time" and "every perfect turn of phrase turns from an ink line into a battle sign/language is an exposé speech is an experiment". Either the cohesiveness is remarkable, or I'm being tricked. Both are admirable feats. When not the drummer/guitarist/vocalist of North of America, Michael Catano plants himself in front of Canada's most exciting, potent, and interesting punk rock band, The Plan. A fan of the latter would no doubt appreciate the former, so too, for that matter, would a fan of Fugazi, Braid, Television or Pavement. Review by Lee Steadham Review date: 06/2001 Read more on Last.fm.